An optimal filtering algorithm for table constraints

Abstract

Filtering algorithms for table constraints are constraint-based, which means that the propagation queue only contains information on the constraints that must be reconsidered. This paper proposes four efficient value-based algorithms for table constraints, meaning that the propagation queue also contains information on the removed values. One of these algorithms (AC5TC-Tr) is proved to have an optimal time complexity of O(r•t + r •d) per table constraint. Experimental results show that, on structured instances, all our algorithms are two or three times faster than the state of the art STR2+ and MDD c algorithms. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.